Investigative journalism | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/media/investigative-journalism
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:13:21 GMT2015-03-31T21:13:21Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
Turkish journalist arrested over military coup scoop he wrote in 2010http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/mar/05/turkish-journalist-arrested-over-military-coup-scoop-he-wrote-in-2010
<p>He faces eight years in jail on a charge of obtaining classified documents </p><p>Turkish investigative journalist Mehmet Baransu has been arrested and charged with obtaining secret state documents. </p><p>The allegations against him are extraordinary. They relate to articles published under his byline by his newspaper, Taraf, in 2010.</p><p>“Since when have coup plans been classified as ‘documents related to state security’ and ‘state knowledge that needs to be kept classified?’ </p><p>I am the person who published the [Sledgehammer] story, the one who decided it needed to be published, the one who didn’t doubt for a moment that Sledgehammer was a coup plot”.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/mar/05/turkish-journalist-arrested-over-military-coup-scoop-he-wrote-in-2010">Continue reading...</a>MediaTurkeyRecep Tayyip ErdoganPress freedomEuropeWorld newsInvestigative journalismNewspapersThu, 05 Mar 2015 10:11:53 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/mar/05/turkish-journalist-arrested-over-military-coup-scoop-he-wrote-in-2010Photograph: APUnder Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, scores of journalists have been jailed.Photograph: APUnder Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, scores of journalists have been jailed.Roy Greenslade2015-03-05T10:11:53ZFifa Files exposé by Sunday Times joint winner of Paul Foot Award 2014http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/26/fifa-files-expose-by-sunday-times-joint-winner-of-paul-foot-award-2014
<p>Private Eye’s reporting on a corrupt contract between the UK and Saudi Arabia shares award with Sunday paper’s investigation into 2022 World Cup voting</p><p>Journalists responsible for the Sunday Times <a href="http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/article1416187.ece">Fifa Files</a> investigation and Private Eye’s reporting on a corrupt contract between the UK and Saudi governments have shared the 2014 Paul Foot award for investigative and campaigning journalism.</p><p>Jonathan Calvert, editor of the Sunday Times’s Insight team, and Heidi Blake, assistant editor attached to the Insight Team, analysed hundreds of millions of documents leaked by a whistleblower from global football governing body Fifa. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/26/fifa-files-expose-by-sunday-times-joint-winner-of-paul-foot-award-2014">Continue reading...</a>Investigative journalismNewspapersNewspapers & magazinesMagazinesUK newsMediaSunday TimesPrivate EyeNational newspapersThu, 26 Feb 2015 07:11:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/26/fifa-files-expose-by-sunday-times-joint-winner-of-paul-foot-award-2014Photograph: Philippa GedgeThe Paul Foot Award 2014: Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert of the Sunday Times, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop; and Richard Brooks and Andrew Bousfield, also of Private Eye.Photograph: Philippa GedgeThe Paul Foot Award 2014: Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert of the Sunday Times, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop; and Richard Brooks and Andrew Bousfield, also of Private Eye.Jasper Jackson2015-02-26T07:11:01ZDaily Telegraph's cash-for-access film clips condemn grasping MPshttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/24/daily-telegraphs-cash-for-access-film-clips-condemn-grasping-mps
<p>Why newspaper’s exposé of Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw was justified </p><p>I rarely pass on the many newspaper spelling errors and/or typos sent to me on a regular basis. But this Daily Telegraph mistake, on its iPad edition, was too good to ignore.</p><p>The guy who spotted it gleefully wrote:</p><p>“I found the impact of the big scoop today was somewhat lessened by news of Sir Malcolm Rifkind’s secret defection to the Labour party”. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/24/daily-telegraphs-cash-for-access-film-clips-condemn-grasping-mps">Continue reading...</a>MediaiPadDaily TelegraphJack StrawPoliticsInvestigative journalismNational newspapersNewspapersNewspapers & magazinesUK newsTue, 24 Feb 2015 09:34:27 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/24/daily-telegraphs-cash-for-access-film-clips-condemn-grasping-mpsPhotograph: Screen grabOops! How the Daily Telegraph’s iPad edition reported its scoop.Roy Greenslade2015-02-24T09:34:27ZEuropean Press Prize shows investigative journalism still bravely shaking up the fabric of politicshttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/22/european-press-prize-shows-investigative-journalism-still-bravely-shaking-up-the-fabric-of-politics
From Luxembourg leaks to HSBC Switzerland, Russia and more, digging by determined reporters reminds us what journalism is for, and can achieve<p>During a bad week for journalism you needed something good to happen. And something hearteningly good did just that. When media-owning trusts and foundations launched the <a href="http://www.europeanpressprize.com/" title="">European Press Prize</a> in 2012, they hoped they were doing something that might, in time, have a Pulitzer aura: a benchmark of quality. That may still be part of the mix, but my job there – I chair the committee that orders translations and reads everything, reducing the latest crop of 346 entries, from 36 countries this year, down to a couple of dozen or so – sparks a rather different realisation.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/17/guardian-alan-rusbridger-european-press-awards-edward-snowden">Guardian editor receives European Press award for Edward Snowden story</a> </p><p>Elena Kostyuchenko is a vivid eye witness as a Russian wife searches for her soldier husband's body in a freezer lorry</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/22/european-press-prize-shows-investigative-journalism-still-bravely-shaking-up-the-fabric-of-politics">Continue reading...</a>Investigative journalismNewspapersNewspapers & magazinesEuropeMediaSun, 22 Feb 2015 00:05:13 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/22/european-press-prize-shows-investigative-journalism-still-bravely-shaking-up-the-fabric-of-politicsPhotograph: Harold Cunningham/Getty ImagesThe International Consortium of Investigative Journalists began its 2015 work by stripping away secrecy inside HSBC Switzerland. Photograph: Harold Cunningham/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Harold Cunningham/Getty ImagesThe International Consortium of Investigative Journalists began its 2015 work by stripping away secrecy inside HSBC Switzerland. Photograph: Harold Cunningham/Getty ImagesPeter Preston2015-02-22T00:05:13ZRipa drafters did not consider its use to access journalists' datahttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/11/ripa-drafters-did-not-consider-its-use-to-access-journalists-data
<p>Two former GCHQ chiefs reveal privacy was of more concern than press freedom </p><p>It transpires that when the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) was being drafted no-one realised it could be used to access journalists’ communications and thus compromise their confidential sources.</p><p>One of those who helped to draft the act, Michael Drury, who was GCHQ’s director of legal affairs between 1996 and 2010, said journalism was barely considered.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/11/ripa-drafters-did-not-consider-its-use-to-access-journalists-data">Continue reading...</a>MediaLawMedia lawGCHQUniversity of OxfordUK security and counter-terrorismInvestigative journalismEuropean court of human rightsHuman rightsPrivacyHigher educationNewspapersNewspapers & magazinesWed, 11 Feb 2015 15:25:26 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/11/ripa-drafters-did-not-consider-its-use-to-access-journalists-dataPhotograph: Michael McGurk/REX/Michael McGurk/REXSir David Omand, who confirmed that journalists were not discussed when drafting Ripa.Photograph: Michael McGurk/REX/Michael McGurk/REXSir David Omand, who confirmed that journalists were not discussed when drafting Ripa.Roy Greenslade2015-02-11T15:25:26ZJournalists must be able to protect their sources | Julian Hupperthttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/11/journalists-protect-sources-serious-crime-bill-whistleblowers
My amendment to the serious crime bill would provide safety for the whistleblowers who are vital to democracy<p>For a journalist, protecting sources is essential. Many have even gone to prison to defend these relationships, knowing quite rightly that whistleblowers will not talk to them if they know their details can just be handed over.</p><p>But, shockingly, it seems the police have been engaging in wide-scale targeting of journalists. They <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/sep/02/plebgate-met-phone-records-sun-tom-newton-dunn">obtained the phone records of Sun political editor Tom Newton Dunn</a> and many others.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/10/clegg-urges-may-to-pass-law-protecting-journalistic-sources-from-police">Clegg urges May to pass law protecting journalist sources before poll</a> </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/11/journalists-protect-sources-serious-crime-bill-whistleblowers">Continue reading...</a>Press freedomHuman rightsNewspapers & magazinesNewspapersMediaLawPoliticsUK newsPoliceInvestigative journalismWed, 11 Feb 2015 11:23:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/11/journalists-protect-sources-serious-crime-bill-whistleblowersPhotograph: Philip Toscano/PA'In the last three years 19 police forces put in more than 600 applications to view journalists’ phone records to identify their sources.' Photograph: Philip Toscano/PAPhotograph: Philip Toscano/PA'In the last three years 19 police forces put in more than 600 applications to view journalists’ phone records to identify their sources.' Photograph: Philip Toscano/PAJulian Huppert, MP for Cambridge2015-02-11T11:23:33ZMost US investigative journalists fear their government spies on themhttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/06/most-us-investigative-journalists-fear-their-government-spies-on-them
<p>Survey reveals that 64% believe the government has ‘probably collected data’ on their work</p><p>Most of America’s investigative journalists believe their government has spied on them, <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2015/02/05/investigative-journalists-and-digital-security/">according to a Pew Research Centre study</a>.</p><p>Some 64% of participants in Pew’s survey said that the US government had “probably collected data” on their phone calls, emails and other online communications.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/06/most-us-investigative-journalists-fear-their-government-spies-on-them">Continue reading...</a>MediaInvestigative journalismNewspapersNewspapers & magazinesUS newsUS press and publishingWorld newsFri, 06 Feb 2015 08:49:57 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/feb/06/most-us-investigative-journalists-fear-their-government-spies-on-themRoy Greenslade2015-02-06T08:49:57Z‘Freedom of expression’ anti-snooping campaign launched over Ripa changeshttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jan/13/freedom-of-expression-anti-snooping-campaign-launched-ripa-changes
Campaigners fear draft code of Ripa legislation in UK will allow police sweeping powers to access phone and email records of journalists, lawyers and doctors<p>An urgent campaign has been launched in the UK for a “freedom of expression” law to protect confidential journalists’, MPs’ and lawyers’ phone and communications records being secretly snooped on by police.</p><p>Senior editors and lawyers condemned as “wholly inadequate” safeguards put forward in a code of practice by the home secretary, Theresa May, to meet concerns over the police use of surveillance powers linked to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Ripa).</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jan/13/freedom-of-expression-anti-snooping-campaign-launched-ripa-changes">Continue reading...</a>Counter-terrorism policyPrivacy & the mediaMediaDavid CameronPoliticsTheresa MayInvestigative journalismNewspapers & magazinesNewspapersPress regulationPress freedomMetropolitan policePoliceUK newsCharlie Hebdo attackWorld newsUK security and counter-terrorismEncryptionTechnologyTue, 13 Jan 2015 19:17:27 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jan/13/freedom-of-expression-anti-snooping-campaign-launched-ripa-changesPhotograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty ImagesArmed police officers inside the grounds of the Houses of Parliament in London. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty ImagesArmed police officers inside the grounds of the Houses of Parliament in London. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty ImagesAlan Travis and Jane Martinson2015-01-13T19:17:27ZBuzzFeed hires Heidi Blake to head UK investigative journalism teamhttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/13/buzzfeed-hires-heidi-blake-to-head-uk-investigative-journalism-team
<p>Sunday Times assistant editor won awards for Qatar World Cup bid scoop and was also involved in Telegraph’s Vince Cable ‘I’ve declared war on Murdoch’ sting</p><p>BuzzFeed has hired Heidi Blake, whose reporting credits include the award-winning story into alleged bribery by Qatar to win the 2022 World Cup, to set up and lead a UK investigative journalism unit.</p><p>The social sharing news and entertainment site has hired Blake, a Sunday Times assistant editor attached to the paper’s Insight investigative team, to lead a soon-to-be recruited team of initially three reporters.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/13/buzzfeed-hires-heidi-blake-to-head-uk-investigative-journalism-team">Continue reading...</a>BuzzFeedInvestigative journalismDigital mediaNewspapersMediaSunday TimesNational newspapersTechnologyTue, 13 Jan 2015 14:00:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/13/buzzfeed-hires-heidi-blake-to-head-uk-investigative-journalism-teamPhotograph: BuzzFeedHeidi Blake will work closely with Luke Lewis, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed UK.Photograph: BuzzFeedHeidi Blake will work closely with Luke Lewis, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed UK.Mark Sweney2015-01-13T14:00:09ZWikileaks for Africa? Introducing Afrileakshttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/13/wikileaks-for-africa-introducing-afrileaks
<p>A new service launching today hopes to safely connect whistleblowers with investigative journalists, encouraging a ‘new culture of accountability and justice’ across the continent</p><p>When Zimbabwean politician Edward Chindori-Chininga died in a car crash in 2013, some believed the circumstances had been “suspicious”. </p><p>Soon after the death of the country’s former minister for energy and mining, the news outlet New Zimbabwe <a href="http://www.newzimbabwe.com/NEWS-11473-Chindori+knew+he+was+a+marked+man%E2%80%99/NEWS.aspx">reported that</a> Chindori’s colleagues had said he had known he was a “marked man” after his department released a report “claiming millions of dollars in taxes paid by companies mining diamonds” in the controversial <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14377215">Marange diamond fields</a> “had vanished.”</p><p>Getting the first leaktop running for <a href="https://twitter.com/AfriLeaks">@AfriLeaks</a> - secure Tails system to connect to <a href="https://twitter.com/GlobaLeaks">@GlobaLeaks</a> /cc <a href="https://twitter.com/AfricanCIR">@AfricanCIR</a> <a href="http://t.co/H97i2AJF9A">pic.twitter.com/H97i2AJF9A</a></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/13/wikileaks-for-africa-introducing-afrileaks">Continue reading...</a>AfricaInvestigative journalismJournalism educationMediaNewspapersChelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning)Edward SnowdenPress freedomEritreaSudanMozambiqueNewspapers & magazinesWorld newsTue, 13 Jan 2015 05:00:10 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/13/wikileaks-for-africa-introducing-afrileaksPhotograph: Yannick Tylle/Yannick Tylle/Corbis“Whistleblowers that we spoke with were not aware of measures such as encrypted email”Photograph: Yannick Tylle/Yannick Tylle/Corbis“Whistleblowers that we spoke with were not aware of measures such as encrypted email”Basia Cummings2015-01-13T05:00:10ZFormer Express staffer joins Bureau of Investigative Journalismhttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/jan/08/former-express-staffer-joins-bureau-of-investigative-journalism
<p>He becomes deputy editor after six years with Express Newspapers</p><p>The former Express Newspapers’ digital chief, Ted Jeory, has joined <a href="http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/">the Bureau of Investigative Journalism</a> as its deputy editor. He will work to the managing editor, Rachel Oldroyd. </p><p>The enterprising Jeory took voluntary redundancy after six years with Richard Desmond’s group, working for most of that time at the Sunday Express. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/jan/08/former-express-staffer-joins-bureau-of-investigative-journalism">Continue reading...</a>MediaInvestigative journalismSunday ExpressExpress NewspapersNational newspapersNorthern & ShellNewspapersNewspapers & magazinesThu, 08 Jan 2015 10:20:34 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/jan/08/former-express-staffer-joins-bureau-of-investigative-journalismPhotograph: Screen grabOne of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s drones major projects is to monitor drone strikesRoy Greenslade2015-01-08T10:20:34ZJean-Claude Juncker must push through EU directive on money-laundering | Lettershttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/09/jean-claude-juncker-must-push-through-eu-directive-on-money-laundering
<p>As investigative journalists, we believe in the critical role of the media in holding institutions to account, exposing corruption, and challenging threats to the social contract between states and citizens which are so critical to democracy.</p><p>The “Lux Leaks” scandal (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/05/-sp-luxembourg-tax-files-tax-avoidance-industrial-scale" title="">Revealed: tax deals saving firms billions</a>, 6 November) is a recent example of the kind of corrosive deals that big companies are able to extract from countries when they think no one will see. Sweetheart deals, facilitated by accountants and law firms, are depriving European states and countries around the world of billions of euros at a time when austerity is undermining the ability of governments to provide basic public services.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/09/jean-claude-juncker-must-push-through-eu-directive-on-money-laundering">Continue reading...</a>European UnionTax avoidanceCorporate governanceBusinessLuxembourgWorld newsEuropeJean-Claude JunckerInvestigative journalismNewspapers & magazinesNewspapersMediaTue, 09 Dec 2014 06:00:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/09/jean-claude-juncker-must-push-through-eu-directive-on-money-launderingPhotograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media/Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft MediaEuropean commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is being urged to ensure the EU anti-money-laundering directive is put into effect. Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft MediaPhotograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media/Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft MediaEuropean commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is being urged to ensure the EU anti-money-laundering directive is put into effect. Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft MediaGuardian Staff2014-12-09T06:00:11ZLive from The Logan Symposium: secrecy, surveillance and censorshiphttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/live/2014/dec/06/live-from-the-logan-symposium-secrecy-surveillance-and-censorship
<p>From Wikileaks and Edward Snowden to investigative journalism and the future of hacking, day two at the London event </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T19:23:49.833Z">7.23pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>That’s it from me, Aisha Gani, and this is the end of the event and day 2 of the Logan Symposium. </p><p>Issues ranged from protecting whistleblowers, methods of investigation, a speech from Daniel Ellsberg the Pentagon papers whistleblower, what we can expect in the future, strategies of the future and a live video appearance from Julian Assange. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T19:19:16.900Z">7.19pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>And that’s it for questions with Julian Assange.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T19:18:59.125Z">7.18pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>I asked Julian Assange how the Guardian “trapped” him in the UK. </p><p>He said he thought he had one newspaper, a decent newspaper in his corner, and thought he would have a significant chance in legal process.</p><p>Assange says that the guardian did everything to get him arrested and pushed for his extradition <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Assange explains <a href="https://twitter.com/guardian">@guardian</a> trapped him in the UK; &quot;I made an institutional mistake.... rather than individuals, I dealt with an institution&quot;</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T18:57:44.367Z">6.57pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Assange is asked about the sexual allegations:</p><p>“I wish people would understand the details, but no-one wants to report the details.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T18:52:52.224Z">6.52pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Here are a round-up of tweets:<br /></p><p>&quot;The threat of quantum computation is going back in time and decrypting communications you make now&quot; says Julian Assange to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Julian Assange: &quot;If Islamic extremists disappeared, then we're fucked&quot; in reference to the use of surveillance <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Assange is talking about rapid biometric signature reading + identification at LoganCIJ14 conference</p><p>Almost no one uses computer communications in a way that is invulnerable to a targeted attack. - Assange <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T18:42:25.487Z">6.42pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Julian Assange says he has an insight of the UK, and makes a dig at The Guardian:</p><p>Being trapped in the UK by the Guardian newspaper – that’s why I was here”</p><p>I had impression of being patted on the head”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T18:38:53.719Z">6.38pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>On the court decision announced yesterday, Assange said he had not read it but:</p><p>It’s no surprise. I despair of the United Kingdom.”</p><p>People born in the UK grow up in a very plastic class system, and it’s why oligarchs prefer to set up home in the UK.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T18:32:45.767Z">6.32pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Assange says when Edward Snowden was given asylum, supporters were secretive, “but it was speed which gave us the edge”.</p><p>“And I think that is something to be optimistic about,” Assange adds.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T18:27:07.039Z">6.27pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The Wikileaks founder says:</p><p>Let us not think that the only way to be effective is to be secretive. Speed and simultaneity are effective tools as well.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T18:19:27.332Z">6.19pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Assange begins to discuss international relations, and discusses the intervetion in Libya: “Yes part of that was about expansionist pressure to grab Libyan oil.</p><p>But he asks “what is the purpose of the National Security Agency?” It’s to achieve power, Assange says. And to get these agencies need resources, according to the Wikileaks founder.</p><p>If we didn’t have a muslim extremist threat, those organisations would not go away. They would simply roll over and find another excuse. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T18:13:47.736Z">6.13pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/julian-assange">Julian Assange</a>, editor-in-chief of website <a href="https://wikileaks.org/">WikiLeaks</a>, speaks to the auditorium via video-link from the Ecuadorian embassy.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T17:36:01.810Z">5.36pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Appelbaum, 31, tells the audience: “you need to live in a free society”, if you want to use an iPhone. Which, “currently you don’t”. He explains how the UK government has access to Apple data. According to the cyber-security analyst, he says that people who have grown up post 9/11 only know a security state.</p><p>He adds that 1984 seems quite quaint now: Britain is a surveillance state.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T17:26:23.207Z">5.26pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Appelbaum, connected to Wikileaks, takes a dig at the Guardian saying that we take the security of our content management system (CMS) as seriously as we take the protection of our sources seriously. </p><p>I think the editors would have something to say about that...</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T17:23:32.519Z">5.23pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>He recommends using a cryptophone rather than a cell-phone. It works over Tor, and uses IP addresses from phone to phone.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T17:17:02.533Z">5.17pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>We are joined by <a href="https://twitter.com/ioerror">Jacob Appelbaum</a>, an American independent computer security researcher and hacker. He was employed by the University of Washington, and is a core member of the Tor project, a free software network designed to provide online anonymity.</p><p>In Pakistan, a cell-phone is a drone magnet.” </p><p>Or if you’re using someone else’s phone regularly, maybe you can get them killed instead.”</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/mensoh">@mensoh</a> I'm not using Skype. I don't use Skype.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T16:55:06.117Z">4.55pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/AnnieMachon">Annie Machon</a>, former MI5 intelligence officer, says that currently under <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/contents">RIPA</a> the product of electronic intercept cannot be used against you in the court of law. But a bugged device in your workstation for example, can be used. </p><p>Machon says that if intelligence security want to follow you, they won’t have a guy in a grubby coat – there will be around 20 guys following you in a very sophisticated way. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T16:44:41.126Z">4.44pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>We’re on the fourth session of the day and will have talks by:</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T15:43:29.998Z">3.43pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The veteran investigative journalist says that:</p><p>Electonic eavesdropping is not new.”</p><p>The Supreme Court of the US was bugged by corporate America”</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LowellBergman?src=hash">#LowellBergman</a> at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a> speaking about 'advocacy journalism' with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CharlesLewis?src=hash">#CharlesLewis</a>. <a href="http://t.co/XGEMSzEGzb">pic.twitter.com/XGEMSzEGzb</a></p><p>Lowell Bergman says that investigating private power is more difficult than government agencies &quot;because they can retaliate&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Lowell Bergman advices to check again. And warns: docs can lie <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a> <a href="http://t.co/WeRYyhv9pW">pic.twitter.com/WeRYyhv9pW</a></p><p>Today’s Justice Dept is the friendliest to corporate America. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T15:27:32.210Z">3.27pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p><a href="http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/bergman/">Lowell Bergman</a>, who won the 2004 Pulitzer prize for public service and is the chair of investigative journalism at UC Berkeley, is now speaking. </p><p>He says:</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T15:09:30.189Z">3.09pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Next up is Dutch photojournalist <a href="https://twitter.com/mediakadir">Kadir van Lohuizen</a>.</p><p>He talks about his international projects - from Greenland to Bangladesh.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T14:52:18.224Z">2.52pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Lewis says, as he outlines in his book 935 Lies, that the “biggest lies in US history that cost the most lives” is actually the tobacco industry.</p><p>He says presidents, whether it was Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama, have helped facilitate its trade. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T14:41:32.586Z">2.41pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Charles Lewis makes parallels between the coverage of Vietnam war and Iraq invasion:</p><p>Journalist failures: 85% of Americans supported full Vietnam war initiated within 6 days of false invasion, Charles Lewis tells <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>&quot;I looked at great moments when journalists got it right —&nbsp;that wd not be Iraq&quot; Chuck Lewis <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T14:35:01.261Z">2.35pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p><a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/about/our-people/founder">Charles Lewis</a> is a Washington-based investigative journalist and is the founder of the Center for Public Integrity in the US. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T14:23:48.729Z">2.23pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The auditorium is filling up again –</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T14:05:00.532Z">2.05pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Welcome back to the liveblog! I’m <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/aisha-gani">Aisha Gani</a>, reporter on the Guardian’s news desk and I’ve been covering day 2 of the Logan Symposium – a conference on secrecy, surveillance and censorship. You can follow my tweets: <a href="https://twitter.com/aishagani">@aishagani</a>. The hashtag for the event is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#<strong>LoganCIJ14</strong></a>.</p><p>So far, we have covered whistleblowing and methods for investigation. We also had a special speech from Pentagon papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T13:17:04.804Z">1.17pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>We’ve finished the morning sessions now, and I’ll be back liveblogging at 14:00. </p><p>A</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T13:01:56.777Z">1.01pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Here are some reactions on twitter to Daniel Ellsberg’s speech:</p><p>Ellsberg on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Manning?src=hash">#Manning</a> readiness to be jailed/executed: &quot;I felt the same... I've been waiting 40 yrs to hear someone say that&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Official secrets game plan: keep it secret long enough that no one cares or can be implicated. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>&quot;Don't do what I did&quot; says Daniel Ellsberg in closing speech to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a> : &quot;Don't wait. Do what I wish I'd done in 1965 or 1966&quot;</p><p>Governments often get their way, says Ellsberg. &quot;Their secrecy system works.&quot; No efficient leaks prior to Iraq war. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>The US in Syria, bombing both sides of a civil war, is as crazy and murderous as a policy could be! - Ellsberg <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/logancij14?src=hash">#logancij14</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T12:55:52.270Z">12.55pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniel-ellsberg">Daniel Ellsberg</a>, Pentagon papers whistleblower, says:</p><p>I identified very much with Chelsea Manning”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T12:40:26.066Z">12.40pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Dutch writer <a href="https://twitter.com/karinspaink">Karin Spaink</a> is speaking about the mayhem and mishap of medical records in the Netherlands. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T12:26:44.084Z">12.26pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Here’s a round-up of tweets on the Nicky Hager talk:</p><p>Investigative journalism is about focused work, strategizing, and luck... It's not just waiting for leakers. - Nicky Hager <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Hager: thank god for Snowden and Manning, but investigative journalists can't wait for the next big thing <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/logancij14?src=hash">#logancij14</a> <a href="http://t.co/ePRiULzQgX">pic.twitter.com/ePRiULzQgX</a></p><p>Nicky Hager on the &quot;physics of secrets&quot; - when 1 person is told many can follow so he puts a &quot;ring fence&quot; around him and source <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Even in the age of mass surveillance, good sources will come forward - Hager <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T12:18:06.266Z">12.18pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p><a href="http://www.nickyhager.info/">Nicky Hager</a> is an investigative journalist from New Zealand, and is the next speaker. </p><p>He says that the first thing police always look for in a search is your mobile phone. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T12:14:03.802Z">12.14pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Speakers Anne Cadwallader and Paul O’Connor speak about the case of Patrick Finucane, who was a practising lawyer who frequently acted for prominent members of the IRA, and was murdered in his home in North Belfast by the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) on the evening of 12 February 1989. </p><p>Here’s the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-patrick-finucane-review">official report of the Patrick Finucane Review</a>. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T11:47:48.238Z">11.47am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>So here’s the panel for the “methods for investigation” session, with special guest <strong><a href="http://www.biography.com/people/daniel-ellsberg-17176398">Daniel Ellsberg</a> </strong>(centre), who leaked the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers">Pentagon Papers</a> to the New York Times strengthening public opposition to the Vietnam War in 1971.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T11:34:33.506Z">11.34am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The coffee break is over and next up is a session on <strong>investigation methods</strong>. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T11:03:02.761Z">11.03am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>“The best whistleblower is the one you don’t know about”, says Bea Edwards during the Q&amp;A, and she explains that this shows organisations have protected the identity of the individual well.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T10:45:23.638Z">10.45am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Here’s a round up of tweets after the international defense of whistleblowers session:</p><p>Bea Edwards at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a> is talking about whistleblowers. The subjects are not trivial, Massive corporate fraud or crimes against humanity</p><p>&quot;We need credible ngos to work with the wistleblowers because no individual can go against big corporations and win&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>The awful truth about Darfur and the NSA was only revealed by a whistleblower says Bea Edwards <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a> - retaliation can be ruinous</p><p>Bea Edwards: Problem for whistleblowers is that press want proof, but handing over documents can result in criminal charges <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T10:42:15.809Z">10.42am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Bea Edwards says that: If we didn’t have whistleblowers in these various organisations we wouldn’t no they were happening.</p><p>Bea says that whistleblowers face incarceration and there are very few avenues for compensations or protection. She adds that it has been the press who have best protected <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/edward-snowden">Edward Snowden</a>, or people like <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f9dc3a0-3fc9-11e2-9f71-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3L73JpQVk">Ben-Artzi</a>.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T10:33:07.111Z">10.33am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Bea gives the case study of <a href="http://www.thewhistler.org/wall-street-whistleblowers-man-v-bank/#more-167">Eric Ben-Artzi</a>, former analyst at Deutsche Bank, who was black-listed for whistleblowing on international financial crimes. </p><p>The Wall Street whistleblower wanted to know:</p><p>There is no legal apparatus for taking on the international crimes of financial institutions that caused the economic collapse <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Bea Edwards &quot;The espionage act is a very blunt tool to use against whistleblowers&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p>Learning about real courage: whistleblowers risk everything in the public interest, with little, if any, protection. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoganCIJ14?src=hash">#LoganCIJ14</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T10:25:40.369Z">10.25am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Bea Edwards, executive and international director of the US <a href="http://www.whistleblower.org/beatrice-edwards">Government Accountability Project</a> (GAP), which is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organisation, now provides the international defense of whistleblowers.</p><p>Bea is responsible for the organisation’s actions defending whistleblowers through the Congress, the media and the courts.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T10:16:29.262Z">10.16am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Whistleblower <a href="http://www.compassionincare.com/node/59">Eileen Chubb</a> gives her testimony of what happens after she whistleblowed on the UK healthcare system. </p><p>Eileen says that:</p><p>Your work place becomes a nightmare. The fear of tomorrow is there.”</p><p>“The trust of the employer is bing lost and that is very hard to compensate.</p><p>next time, I wouldn’t dial “P” for police, but I’d dial “P” for Panorama.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-06T09:57:05.582Z">9.57am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Good morning!</p><p>Aisha Gani here liveblogging day two of <a href="http://logancij.com/programme/">The Logan Symposium</a>, a gathering in London of journalists, hacktivists, legal and security experts and artists to discuss topics including secrecy, surveillance and censorship. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/live/2014/dec/06/live-from-the-logan-symposium-secrecy-surveillance-and-censorship">Continue reading...</a>Data and computer securitySurveillanceCensorshipPrivacyEdward SnowdenWikiLeaksJournalism, publishing and public relationsData protectionHackingInvestigative journalismTechnologySat, 06 Dec 2014 19:24:47 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/live/2014/dec/06/live-from-the-logan-symposium-secrecy-surveillance-and-censorshipPhotograph: The GuardianAssangePhotograph: The GuardianAssangePhotograph: The GuardianAssangePhotograph: The GuardianAssangePhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianJacob AppelbaumPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianJacob AppelbaumPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianCharles Lewis at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianCharles Lewis at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianAudience at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianAudience at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianDaniel EllsbergPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianDaniel EllsbergPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianKarin SpainkPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianKarin SpainkPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianKarin SpainkPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianKarin SpainkPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianPaul O’Connor speaks about investigating the Patrick Finucane case.Photograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianPaul O’Connor speaks about investigating the Patrick Finucane case.Photograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianMethods for investigation panelPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianMethods for investigation panelPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianBea EdwardsPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianBea EdwardsPhotograph: Aisha Gani/the guardianEileen Chubb open the Logan Symposium, and speaks about whistleblowing in the health systemPhotograph: Aisha Gani/the guardianEileen Chubb open the Logan Symposium, and speaks about whistleblowing in the health systemPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianMethods for investigation panelPhotograph: Aisha Gani for the GuardianMethods for investigation panelPhotograph: Photograph: Alex Healey for the GuardianPhotograph: Photograph: Alex Healey for the GuardianAisha Gani2014-12-06T19:24:47ZLive from The Logan Symposium: secrecy, surveillance and censorshiphttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/live/2014/dec/05/the-logan-symposium-surveillance-censorship
<p>From Wikileaks and Edward Snowden to investigative journalism and the future of hacking, London event gets underway</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T19:17:24.013Z">7.17pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Finally, a roll call of “persecuted journalists and hackers” read by actor Francis Magee to finish off the day, and remind the audience that some of the people who couldn’t attend this event are facing the greatest risks.</p><p>Apologies, a Vine is just a six-second snapshot from a long, long list. But it’s a fitting way to bring the day to a close.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T19:13:12.018Z">7.13pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Harrison is asked about getting these messages across to the general public. “Just education, and keeping on that. I’ve had conversations with some people, it was actually a revelation that the internet is physically carried by cables across the world! In this age of Wi-Fi, people just think the internet is something magically in the air.” she says.</p><p>“It’s interesting being in Germany whilst these revelations are coming out, there’s still in living memory the history of surveillance here that was in a much more physical way. There’s a bit more of an understanding here that even if you can’t see it, the concept of this surveillance, the taking away of our rights, is hugely problematic... It’s important not to give up.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T19:10:28.139Z">7.10pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Harrison says one good outcome from the NSA revelations has been more journalists understanding encryption technology – or if not understanding it yet, being open for the need for it – which she says makes it easier for WikiLeaks to work with them. “Now it’s quite easy when I say we’ll have to train you in some encryption methods, most journalists are actually quite pleased to have that training,” she says.</p><p>“The NSA revelations haven’t necessarily made a large impact on how we’ve had to work ourselves,” she adds. “People do get now that people like Julian and Jake [Jacob Appelbaum] are not actually paranoid, they’re just correct, which is nice.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T19:06:15.872Z">7.06pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Harrison has some advice for journalists, suggesting that they can follow Glenn Greenwald’s recent career path: “Do the work that you see as correct... and if you feel at any point that you’re being prevented... your pieces are being too editorialised, or you want to publish a piece that the media organisation doesn’t have the guts for, you should not only go it alone, but make some noise about it... make sure the public knows that the information is being filtered.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T19:02:38.196Z">7.02pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Harrison is asked about the crackdown on press freedom being matched by a less-reported “civil rights crackdown” on the Muslim community by one audience member. Is that something she has views on? “I completely see what you’re referring to. One of the biggest issues is this: the government in the UK and the US as well, they like to use the rhetoric of national security, terrorism etc, basically as propaganda tools to give them the cover to operate in all sorts of abusive ways,” she says.</p><p>“I don’t think this is questioned enough. If you look at the statements that the US government said about us when we released the Iraq war logs and Afghan war logs, they tried to say we had blood on our hands. Which is quite extraordinary when we’re exposing the tens of thousands of deaths at the hands of the US... This is all done under this guise of national security, and it’s really created problems within the UK and US communities and media on how to deal with Muslim communities, and to understand that it’s not okay for anybody’s rights to be broken... The press in the UK really needs to grow some balls for the most part.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:59:17.571Z">6.59pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>She talks about the Courage Foundation, which spawned from WikiLeaks’ involvement in helping Edward Snowden travel from Hong Kong to Moscow.</p><p>“We saw that there was a need, and hence we started up Courage, which basically is a whistleblower support organisation. The unique part about Courage is it’s not only global, but it’s being set up specifically for these high-risk cases to help in some of the most dangerous circumstances of whistleblowers to get them the help that they need.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:52:22.750Z">6.52pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The last speaker at The Logan Symposium is WikiLeaks journalist Sarah Harrison, who is also acting director of the Courage Foundation, which raises money for the legal and public defence of journalistic sources. She’s now based in Berlin, and like Laura Poitras has been advised not to travel to the UK for legal reasons, so is Skypeing in her session.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:41:49.905Z">6.41pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Finally, what has she learned in all her work about the consequences of what the NSA and GCHQ are doing? “I do think that in a strange way, being put on a watch list made me a bit resilient, and ready to handle the story,” she said. “And Snowden learned from other whistleblowers... I think that’s partly the good news. That people are willing to take risks to expose injustice or wrongdoing.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:35:42.496Z">6.35pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Another question: the harshest reactions to the Snowden revelations seem to have come from the UK rather than the US – the detainment of Glenn Greenwald’s partner during an airport transfer, for example, and that hard-drive destroying Guardian incident. Why?</p><p>“Your analysis is clearly right... certainly the response has been the most anti-free-press, and really attacking the reporting in a way that we haven’t seen on the same level in the US,” she says, but declines to suggest why. “Perhaps someone in the room who is from the UK can answer that one.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:30:20.549Z">6.30pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>She’s asked about how she conveys “empowerment through technology” to her fellow journalists. “One of the effects of this story is probably a lot more journalists have learned to use encryption, because they care about source protection – which I hope they do! – but also to be prepared if they ever get a knock on the door.”</p><p>She admits that it can be difficult to get some of the tools required for her work – video editing, for example – that are free [secure] software. “At some point it becomes a case of what is your threat model versus what you want to accomplish. When it comes to protecting sources, we have an obligation to use technology that we believe to be secure,” she says, before addressing hackers directly:</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:26:13.677Z">6.26pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Questions from the audience: one about the difference between the Guardian and the Washington Post, in their treatment of the Snowden leaks. She talks about her personal (and just as importantly, encrypted) connection with Bart Gellman from the Washington Post, which is why one story was given to him.</p><p>She talks about the effort she put into getting Glenn Greenwald, then of the Guardian, onto an encrypted connection, and then to meet her in New York ready to work on the story.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:21:36.237Z">6.21pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>What has this all been like for Poitras personally, and what is her life like in Berlin? “On the one hand, this has definitely been the scariest film I’ve ever made. I’m very aware of angering people who are really powerful, who operate in the shadows. I’ve felt a lot of fear working on this film,” she says.</p><p>“On the other hand, being in Berlin has been absolutely extraordinary... it’s been a joy. It’s a coming together of people who are willing to take risks, and form a community. And that’s a great thing.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:15:03.195Z">6.15pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Why did Poitras share this story with journalist Glenn Greenwald, when she could have kept it to herself and bagged all the glory, wonders moderator Laura Flanders. She says it’s because she defines herself as a filmmaker – a visual storyteller. “This was clearly a print story. And it wasn’t just one journalist’s print story, it was a big story,” she says.</p><p>“It’s partly because I didn’t move up from a print newsroom background, so I didn’t feel proprietary relationship to breaking stories... I certainly felt an obligation to getting the information out, and for the security of the material.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:10:51.341Z">6.10pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Poitras talks about her conversations with various media organisations in the run-up to meeting Snowden in Hong Kong. “One thing I’d like to stress in all of this, I think in retrospect, journalists and media organisations think of this as a big story that any news organisation would wanna get, but in truth there was a lot of fear in these organisations. And the Washington Post decided in the end not to send Bart Gellman, because they were worried about some of the risks.”</p><p>She says there was also nervousness within the Guardian. “The decision to publish this information didn’t come without some risk-taking from a lot of people.” She is asked about <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/01/laura-poitras-on-finding-edward-snowden-obama-s-tainted-legacy-and-oliver-stone-s-snowden-film.html">her comment about a “freak out” in Hong Kong</a> by a newspaper organisation, referred to earlier in the day.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:07:11.661Z">6.07pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>A liveblogger’s eye view of a Skyped-in keynote:</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T18:06:34.840Z">6.06pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Next up is documentary-maker Laura Poitras, beaming in via Skype to talk about her work with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, including details of how she communicated with him, and some details of working with the press.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T17:44:29.231Z">5.44pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>So, Fix has some suggestions on how hackers can keep their value system from deteriorating. One rule: “Let us begin to appraise hacks no longer by their technical brilliance alone, but also by their usefulness to make the world a better place,” he says. “And us means everybody, not just hackers. In fact, especially <em>not</em> hackers... I would love people everywhere talking about the usefulness of a hack, as much as they do its technical details.”</p><p>Fix updates Karl Marx’s famous “religion is the opium of the people” quote (well, a paraphrasing). “Internet is opium for the people. Don’t get me wrong, I love the internet, I am convinced it can take an important role in the transformation of societies,” he says. “But the internet has one downside: people often use it as an escape from reality. Much cheaper than drugs too... It can lift the burden of caring for the real world... Who cares about the total surveillance that comes with it over the same cables? Well, we do.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T17:36:19.121Z">5.36pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Finally, in this session, Bernd Fix – a German hacker and security expert – to talk about the future of hacking. But he started with its history: famous hacks by the Chaos Computer Club, warning the audience not to be taken in by the legends that have sprung up around them.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T17:26:47.227Z">5.26pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Next up: an academic history of “hacking Europe” by Ruth Oldenziel from Eindhoven University of Technology and Gerard Alberts from the University of Amsterdam, based on their book of the same name.</p><p>Alberts’ section of the presentation focuses on “the playfulness of hacking culture” in Europe, during the Cold War. “Play was a quintessential element to the culture of personal computing... hackers were the first to create the space to play in,” he says.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T16:55:10.731Z">4.55pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>How many conferences mix a play in with the panel sessions? This one does. Wau-Pengo 1989 is based on the transcript of an encounter between a hacker caught spying for the KGB, and the founder of the hacking club who felt betrayed by his actions.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T16:02:47.334Z">4.02pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>One quick additional comment from Ross Anderson, who was asked about Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp recently introducing encryption.</p><p>“The reaction of the tech industry to Snowden has been helpful,” says Anderson, who also describes Google’s engineers as “hitting the roof” at some of the Snowden revelations of backdoor access by the NSA.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T15:53:56.109Z">3.53pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>During the break, I wanted to come back to the talk just after John Pilger from Olia Lialina, an author, net artist and “animated GIF model” who talked about the digital art she’s making around topics such as censorship and technology access.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T15:43:35.246Z">3.43pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Finally, the environment. Anderson talked about news sites being encrypted, so it’s not obvious who read what, and it also makes targeted censorship harder: “Iran must block it all, or not at all,” he says, by way of example. “And as more and more people encrypt their website the choke point for most investigators – those without NSA-level powers – have to move through mutual legal assistance,” he says. Which is a slower process.</p><p>His conclusion: “It doesn’t make sense to build special systems to support investigative journalism, any more than gumshoes need special hotels or cars. It makes you stick out a mile... Remember this phrase: anonymity loves company.” He warns that journalists can’t just set a policy and technology and stick to it: they have to keep reassessing it in response to “what the spooks actually do”.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T15:37:43.290Z">3.37pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Anderson says that “many nuggets of information themselves are highly disclosive”, citing medical records as an example where even “anonymised” data can be surprisingly rich, when queried in detail. “Show me the medical records of all 48 year-old women with a nine year-old daughter both of whom have psoriasis”. </p><p>“If somebody at Whitehall leaks you some stuff, even if you use the most stringent security measures, you’ve got to think really hard about whether you’re going to burn your source,” he says, moving on to tradecraft. 20 years ago, a journalist would try not to compromise their sources by having a way for sources to “walk in”; meet them somewhere innocuous; make sure they weren’t being followed; and would try not to use phones that might be tapped.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T15:30:38.347Z">3.30pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The next speaker is Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University, talking about the systems that investigative journalists need post-Snowden, analysed at three levels: the science and engineering, the tradecraft and the environment.</p><p>On the first of those: he cited some of the problems of public key cryptography: man-in-the-middle attacks where “the NSA guy pretends to be you to your source, and pretends to you that he’s your source”, and also the fact that “if you’re the only guy in Burma using PGP, you’re going to be conspicuous!”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T15:21:37.266Z">3.21pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>His fifth point: the technical complexity of reporting on leaks like the Snowden documents. It may make sense for journalists to focus on stories that are easier to understand for a mainstream audience, in this case, rather than the more complex aspects that need deep technical knowledge to understand.</p><p>Sixth: overcoming abstraction: in Germany, Angela Merkel’s phone calls being listened to caused a huge stir, but the monitoring of online activity by 80 million citizens was comparably uncontroversial. M&uuml;ller-Maguhn says it’s key to make people understand the impact of global surveillance operations for their life, economy and country. And he wants more people to understand that “crypto and operational security can help you” is also important.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T15:12:49.343Z">3.12pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>So, that criticism for journalists. What “specific media mechanisms, limitations and implications” does he see in the Snowden leaked documents process? The first is titled simply “shitting in the pants”. What? He refers to <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/01/laura-poitras-on-finding-edward-snowden-obama-s-tainted-legacy-and-oliver-stone-s-snowden-film.html">the claim by Laura Poitras</a> that one British newspaper had a “freak out” and started destroying some of the Snowden documents. </p><p>The second: legal considerations of the main actors. Snowden handed his materials to two American journalists, which in turn brought them to the attention of US lawyers, with some specific restrictions over how that material could then be used and distributed. “The judgement of what is public interest becomes the key of the whole thing: if the US audience and the US judge think it was not public interest, then from an American legal point of view, you’re fucked.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T15:00:42.021Z">3.00pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Andy M&uuml;ller-Maguhn of the German Chaos Computer Club is the next speaker – I’ve missed one, Olia Lialina, but will come back to the tablet notes on her talk in a bit. M&uuml;ller-Maguhn is talking about “working with the Snowden revelations”, and is promising some more criticism for journalists.</p><p>But he starts by talking about a project called <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/snowden-documents-indicate-nsa-has-breached-deutsche-telekom-a-991503.html">Treasuremap</a>, which aims to build “a near real-time, interactive map of the global internet” tracking people and devices – and what it means in the context of the NSA structure, and the structure of that agency within the US government.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T14:22:24.673Z">2.22pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The liveblog entries may dry up in about 20 minutes by the way. Not for “handmaiden of suppression” reasons, but for “laptop battery life of 24%” reasons. Will be switching to a tablet and collaborating with AutoCorrect to take notes and quotes that will be posted later.</p><p>Update: I’ve found the overspill room with plug sockets. #technology</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T14:16:28.595Z">2.16pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Pilger finishes off by talking about WikiLeaks, suggesting that the organisation and its founder Julian Assange has not got the credit or support that it is due.</p><p>“People have made big money while WikiLeaks has struggled to survive,” says Pilger, attacking the Guardian, again, over the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/01/nsa-whistlebloewer-edward-snowden-wins-swedish-human-rights-award">recent Swedish Right Livelihood award</a> which was won by Edward Snowden, with Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger also one of the recipients.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T14:11:12.741Z">2.11pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>“In the news, whole countries are made to disappear,” says Pilger, suggesting that coverage of countries including Saudi Arabia and the Yemen is lacking, as well as developments in Latin America – Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela in particular, where he claims the same three publications’ reports have been “routine in their bad faith”. Then Pilger moves on to news in the UK.</p><p>“Why are millions of people in Britain convinced that a collective punishment known as austerity is necessary?” he says, harking back to the last financial crash. “For a split second, the banks were lined up as crooks with obligations to the public they’d betrayed, but within a few months... the message changed,” says Pilger.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T14:06:18.248Z">2.06pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>“The handmaidens of suppression, of fake objectivity, had done their job well,” says Pilger, about the media’s coverage of the war in Iraq. “The trail of blood that goes from Iraq to London has almost been scrubbed clean.”</p><p>He talks about the power of Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers and TV networks, but suggests that “the influence of Murdoch’s empire is no greater than its reflection of the wider media. The most effective propaganda is often not found in Murdoch’s Sun or Fox News, but beneath a liberal halo.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T13:55:32.505Z">1.55pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>“Propaganda is no longer an invisible government. It <em>is</em> the government,” continues Pilger. “The information age that we refer to, in my opinion is principally a media age. We have war by media, censorship by media, retribution by media, demonology by media, diversion by media. A surreal assembly line of obedient cliches and false assumptions.”<br /></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T13:53:31.956Z">1.53pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The first speaker in the afternoon session is journalist John Pilger, who’s going to talk about “journalist as a craft, regardless of the means and regardless of the obstacles”. He kicks off with some questions.</p><p>“Why has so much journalism succumbed to propaganda? Why are censorship and distortion within the media almost standard practice? Why do great newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post deceive their readers?”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T12:43:04.834Z">12.43pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>By the way, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/05/seymour-hersh-nsa-surveillance-useless">here’s a standalone piece on the Seymour Hersh keynote</a>, rounding up all those zingers. The conference is breaking for lunch, but I’ll be back with more updates from 2pm-ish.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T12:40:07.901Z">12.40pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>“In India right now, there is currently no privacy legislation. They are building all these surveillance systems, yet there is no law which can protect citizens,” says Xynou. There is a draft privacy bill under discussion in 2014, though. “Of course, it’s not perfect... but still I think it’s definitely a very good first step.”</p><p>“But the main problem in India is a lot of these programs are carried out in secret. There’s no transparency whatsoever,” she finishes.”In order for us to be able to increase transparency in what’s going on in the biggest democracy in terms of population in the world, we definitely need people to leak more documents.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T12:37:07.117Z">12.37pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Xynou has studied 50 companies who sell a range of technologies used for surveillance in India. She talks about some, including <a href="http://www.kommlabs.com/products-verbacentre.asp">Kommlabs</a>, which “looks out for cognitive and emotional stress in voice calls, then flags them”.</p><p>She also talks about the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) which links up various national databases of personal information in India, from vehicle registrations and mobile phone logs to bank account details, train reservations and passport data.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T12:29:02.693Z">12.29pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Next to speak is Maria Xynou, a privacy and surveillance researcher at the Tactical Technology Collective in Berlin. She’s talking about surveillance in India.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T12:22:04.422Z">12.22pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>That document the NSA was so keen to get hold of? It’s here today! Duncan Campbell has hidden a copy under Bamford’s chair, which gets a big laugh from the audience.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T12:16:34.945Z">12.16pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>“I have a great deal of respect for whistleblowers,” says Bamford. “I have a lot of admiration for their courage.” He spent three days in Moscow with Edward Snowden last year, to write a profile piece for Wired.</p><p>“The key thing for him was encryption. And the key thing for most people these days becoming whistleblowers, they have to trust the person they’re gonna deal with... the more we get involved in encryption, the better it is,” he says, before returning to the theme of the NSA’s capabilities.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T12:06:51.303Z">12.06pm <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Bamford is talking about how President Nixon got the NSA to eavesdrop on celebrities: Jane Fonda, Dr. Benjamin Spock and Muhammad Ali, for example. Then he moves on to Senator Frank Church and his Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 1975, which was one of the first such committees to study the NSA’s capabilities and activities.</p><p>Bamford also talks about his personal history, working for two weeks of active duty in the Navy Reserve at an NSA facility, and his growing realisation that the agency may have been violating the law by eavesdropping on Americans, not just foreign nationals. Bamford turned whistleblower for the Church Committee.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T11:55:44.133Z">11.55am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Next up: journalist and documentary maker James Bamford to talk about the NSA. “I appreciate following Duncan. All I’ve done in my life is follow Duncan!” he says, graciously.<br /></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T11:47:45.188Z">11.47am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>“All sorts of countries have been co-opted,” says Campbell. Denmark, Spain, Sweden – “hugely important” – and he shows a map of a “massive, global, integrated system with third parties playing a major role in feeding in just what NSA wants”.</p><p>He says the story about the NSA subverting the internet – “a story that is starting to flood out” – is going to be much more prominent in the coming years, and compares this to what’s happening with ECHELON.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T11:44:50.446Z">11.44am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T11:37:38.696Z">11.37am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>It’s a fascinating talk, going back to 1970, when Campbell says “American money paid for the equipment” to be used for ECHELON. “This was driven, at the height of the Cold War, a project of equal priority, to spy on the population of the United States, United Kingdom and western Europe,” says Campbell, who promises a big feature on this to be published imminently on <a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/">The Intercept</a>.</p><p>“So many people turned it into the Panopticon that does everything... It doesn’t access television cameras, it doesn’t sneak into your house. It doesn’t do many of the things you may read in the looser articles,” he says, stressing the specific use for ECHELON. “It intercepts communication satellites.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T11:32:14.373Z">11.32am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The next speaker at the conference is another investigative journalist, Duncan Campbell, talking about revelations of surveillance long before Edward Snowden. Back to 1976, in fact, and his articles about the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/01/menwith-hill-eavesdropping-base-expansion">Menwith Hill Station</a> eavesdropping base.</p><p>He’s talking about a 1980 investigation that was commissioned by the Sunday Times, but was then blocked. “We’ve flushed out what we think was the real way that story was blocked, and hopefully we’ll have that story within a week,” he says.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:49:08.053Z">10.49am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Hersh on the NSA again: “Snowden shook up the community, big-time. How many Snowdens are there, they don’t know? They worry about it, because they’re very, very sloppy… They don’t even know what they’ve done wrong. They can’t find out,” he says.</p><p>“It’s a completely dysfunctional place. And I think we can’t get to it because of secrecy… It’s an agency that needs to be cleaned up. It’s a menace to itself because they’re incompetent, but if somebody competent got in there…”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:46:01.995Z">10.46am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Hersh has a message for encryption experts, calling for them to continue working with journalists – especially those whose technology skills may not be top-tier.</p><p>“You guys who know an awful lot about computers, you have to do more for the dummies! You aren’t doing enough for the dummies… I know you all think encryption is easy, but it’s not for a lot of people… When I have trouble with my computer, I wait for some 10 year-old kid to walk by! There has to be some way to really get it going...”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:24:28.891Z">10.24am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>On governments and conspiracy theories: “Usually it’s about ignorance and stupidity and cowardice rather than any plot,” he says, before moving on to the US’ National Security Agency (NSA).</p><p>“The single most overrated agency in the United States is the NSA... It is so fucked up. They can’t get anything right! It’s just the most useless unproductive agency. It doesn’t get much. Yes, any given day if they decide to go after you, they can do a helluva job. But they always could. But it’s also a question of how do they retrieve it?,” he says.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:18:53.698Z">10.18am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:16:11.147Z">10.16am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Hersh says young journalists shouldn’t be focused on getting a job at a major outlet if they want to do important investigative journalism.</p><p>“You don’t have to be in the New York Times or something like that. The New York Times is narrative. You want to be <em>counter</em>-narrative,” he says. “Mostly I’m embarrassed for the paper these days, having worked there. And that doesn’t mean it isn’t the best there is.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:12:18.726Z">10.12am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Hersh on leaked documents: “Let me say this to you real simple: when you have something like these stolen documents, and you decide you’re only going to publish part of it. We’re not breaking the law. We’re not the guys that are violating the rights around the world… we’re not cheating, we’re not violating the fourth amendment, and also the fifth amendment I would tell you – the right to self-defence,” he says.</p><p>“So why be afraid? Why not write everything? Do it. As the Guardian guy did, why let some thugs come into your office and destroy some documents that you know don’t exist elsewhere?… We shouldn’t hesitate. The guys who should worry are the guys who are violating the laws.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:06:24.999Z">10.06am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Hersh is asked what makes a great story for him, and refers to news this week that Iran had flown some missions against the Islamic State, and the suggestion that this means the US is working with Iran – and possibly even Syria.</p><p>“Here’s the reality: we, the Americans have been working, obviously, with the Iranians and the Syrians… We’re working together. Clearly we have been helping Syria with tactical intelligence for a long time, probably through the Germans… I just think this is a rich story. I’m not going to do it because I’m doing other things, but it’s a rich story not being told.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:04:31.120Z">10.04am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T10:00:26.945Z">10.00am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>The next speaker today is investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, interviewed on-stage by author and broadcaster Laura Flanders. With his history of reporting including the My Lai massacre in south Vietnam, various Nixon administration controversies and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Hersh is providing the conference’s opening keynote.</p><p>“He has been the bad news bear of half a dozen or more administrations in Washington,” says Flanders, by way of introduction, before Hersh kicks off with a mini-speech.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T09:54:20.801Z">9.54am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Gavin MacFadyen, director and founder of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, speaks first, introducing the event.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-12-05T09:18:49.325Z">9.18am <span class="timezone">GMT</span></time> </p><p>Today is day one of <a href="http://logancij.com/programme/">The Logan Symposium</a>, a gathering in London of journalists, hacktivists, legal and security experts and artists to discuss topics including secrecy, surveillance and censorship.</p><p>It’s organised by charity the Centre for Investigative Journalism and Goldsmiths, University of London. Over its three days, the event will host speakers including Seymour Hersh, Laura Poitras, John Pilger, Sarah Harrison, Julian Assange, Annie Machon and Jacob Applebaum.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/live/2014/dec/05/the-logan-symposium-surveillance-censorship">Continue reading...</a>Data and computer securitySurveillanceCensorshipPrivacyEdward SnowdenWikiLeaksJournalism, publishing and public relationsTechnologyData protectionHackingInvestigative journalismFri, 05 Dec 2014 19:17:24 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/live/2014/dec/05/the-logan-symposium-surveillance-censorshipPhotograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianSarah Harrison Skypeing in to the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianSarah Harrison Skypeing in to the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianLaura Poitras speaking at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianLaura Poitras speaking at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianBernd Fix at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianBernd Fix at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianOlia Lialina at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianOlia Lialina at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianJohn Pilger at The Logan Symposium in London.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianJohn Pilger at The Logan Symposium in London.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianMaria Xynou at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianMaria Xynou at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianJames Bamford at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianJames Bamford at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianJames Bamford at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianJames Bamford at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianDuncan Campbell on stage at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianDuncan Campbell on stage at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianSeymour Hersh and Laura Flanders on stage at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianSeymour Hersh and Laura Flanders on stage at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianGavin MacFadyen talking at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianGavin MacFadyen talking at The Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianSeymour Hersh and Laura Flanders on stage at the Logan Symposium.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianSeymour Hersh and Laura Flanders on stage at the Logan Symposium.Stuart Dredge2014-12-05T19:17:24ZMy highlight: Serialhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/05/serial-sarah-koenig-natalie-harnes-my-highlight
Sarah Koenig’s addictive series about a 1999 murder conviction has raised the bar for both podcasts and old-fashioned investigative reporting<p>Last week, I emailed someone <a href="http://serialpodcast.org/" title="">a link to&nbsp;the first episode of <em>Serial</em></a>. I explained that it was a podcast about a&nbsp;true&nbsp;crime and that some commitment is required: the programme has run for 10 episodes so far, which must be listened to in order. I concluded the message with an&nbsp;apology for these caveats, and the words, “but it is insanely good”.</p><p>And that is why <em>Serial</em> is scything its&nbsp;way through our spare hours. The&nbsp;long-form, single-case format is&nbsp;reminiscent of <em>The Killing</em> or <em>The Bridge</em>. But the murder of Hae Min Lee is not a Scandi-noir creation: she was a&nbsp;real person with real relatives alive today. It&nbsp;would have been easy to create a&nbsp;sensationalist narrative about Adnan Syed, her ex-boyfriend, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment 15 years ago.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/05/serial-sarah-koenig-natalie-harnes-my-highlight">Continue reading...</a>SerialRadioCultureTelevision & radioPodcastingInternetDigital mediaInvestigative journalismMediaUS crimeUS newsFri, 05 Dec 2014 16:00:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/05/serial-sarah-koenig-natalie-harnes-my-highlightPhotograph: PRSarah Koenig, Serial's creatorPhotograph: PRSarah Koenig, Serial's creatorNatalie Haynes2014-12-05T16:00:02ZTruman Capote and the old failings of New Journalismhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/dec/05/truman-capote-failings-new-journalism-in-cold-blood
<p>Freshly uncovered police reports of the In Cold Blood murder case show the ‘non-fiction novelist’ was rather too imaginative with the facts</p><p>In his introduction to a 1973 anthology of literary reportage, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/08/specials/wolfe-journalism.html">The New Journalism</a>, Tom Wolfe lampoons the appalled reaction of the old guard to the blend of literary technique and newspaper reportage which made his name as a feature writer:</p><p>These people must be piping it, winging it, making up the dialogue … Christ, maybe they’re making up whole scenes, the unscrupulous geeks ...</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/dec/05/truman-capote-failings-new-journalism-in-cold-blood">Continue reading...</a>Truman CapoteBooksCultureInvestigative journalismMediaFri, 05 Dec 2014 12:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/dec/05/truman-capote-failings-new-journalism-in-cold-bloodPhotograph: APNot as real as it looks ... Philip Seymour Hoffman playing the author in the film CapotePhotograph: APNot as real as it looks ... Philip Seymour Hoffman playing the author in the film CapoteJohn Keenan2014-12-05T12:30:01ZSeymour Hersh attacks ‘useless’ NSA over surveillancehttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/05/seymour-hersh-nsa-surveillance-useless
<p>Veteran reporter advises young journalists not to run scared of bullying by governments and intelligence agencies</p><p>The role of investigative journalists remains crucial in holding power to account, even when that power is ‘incompetent’, according to veteran reporter Seymour Hersh.</p><p>“The whole purpose of what I think we should be doing is counter-narrative. They have their narrative, and we have to show there is another narrative,” said Hersh, in a keynote session <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/live/2014/dec/05/the-logan-symposium-surveillance-censorship">at The Logan Symposium conference</a> in London.</p><p>“Let me say this to you real simple: when you have something like these stolen documents, and you decide you’re only going to publish part of it. We’re not breaking the law. We’re not the guys that are violating the rights around the world,” he said, before referring to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/20/nsa-snowden-files-drives-destroyed-london">the Guardian’s decision to destroy hard drives</a> of files leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.</p><p>“So why be afraid? Why not write everything? Do it. As the Guardian guy did, why let some thugs come into your office and destroy some documents that you know don’t exist elsewhere?… We shouldn’t hesitate. The guys who should worry are the guys who are violating the laws.”</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/05/seymour-hersh-nsa-surveillance-useless">Continue reading...</a>Data protectionNSAThe NSA filesJournalism, publishing and public relationsInvestigative journalismTechnologyPrivacyUS newsNewspapersWorld newsSurveillanceFri, 05 Dec 2014 11:20:37 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/05/seymour-hersh-nsa-surveillance-uselessPhotograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianSeymour Hersh talking at The Logan Symposium in London.Photograph: Stuart Dredge for the GuardianSeymour Hersh talking at The Logan Symposium in London.Stuart Dredge2014-12-05T11:20:37ZJournalist known for investigating mafia finds dogs hung from posthttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/04/journalist-mafia-dogs-hang-pino-maniaci
Two dogs belonging to Pino Maniaci, head of Sicilian TV station Telejato, are found hanging from a metal post in a yard<p>Pino Maniaci, head of Telejato, a Sicilian TV station, is known for at least two things. One is his love of animals. He has two dogs: a belgian shepherd and an english setter.</p><p>Or rather, he had. On Wednesday afternoon, they were found hanged from a metal post in a yard near Maniaci’s place of work.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/04/journalist-mafia-dogs-hang-pino-maniaci">Continue reading...</a>MafiaWorld newsInvestigative journalismNewspapers & magazinesNewspapersItalyEuropeAnimalsThu, 04 Dec 2014 19:50:26 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/04/journalist-mafia-dogs-hang-pino-maniaciPhotograph: /TelejatoPino Maniaci linked the attacks to Telejato’s coverage of drug use in the area. Photograph: TelejatoPhotograph: /TelejatoPino Maniaci linked the attacks to Telejato’s coverage of drug use in the area. Photograph: TelejatoJohn Hooper in Rome2014-12-04T19:50:26Z‘Fake sheikh’ report makes case for investment in investigation at BBChttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/16/fake-sheikh-report-case-bbc-investigation
<em>Panorama</em> programme on Mahzer Mahmood should strengthen the case for BBC to have the resources it needs to dig deep<p>There’s an acrid irony about the “seriously good, extremely revealing piece of work” the BBC put out in a sweaty rush at 7.30pm last Wednesday. The corporation’s head of news, James Harding, didn’t stint his praise for<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/13/panorama-fake-sheikh-mazher-mahmood-ratings-bbc" title=""> John Sweeney’s <em>Panorama</em> takedown of the “fake sheikh” </a>Mazher Mahmood.</p><p>Apart from serious excellence, it was “squarely in the public interest”. But, coincidentally, Sweeney and his regular reporting companions on <em>Panorama </em>will be out of jobs soon as the flagship of current affairs promotes the expository wonders of “analysis” alongside investigation. And, double irony, there is also a prospect of floating the programme out of Broadcasting House harbour into the bays and inlets of independent commissioning.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/16/fake-sheikh-report-case-bbc-investigation">Continue reading...</a>Television industryInvestigative journalismMediaBBCNews UKSun on SundayJames HardingSun, 16 Nov 2014 00:02:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/nov/16/fake-sheikh-report-case-bbc-investigationPhotograph: BBC Panorama/PAA video showing undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, which was aired by the BBC's Panorama programme. Photograph: BBC Panorama/PAPhotograph: BBC Panorama/PAA video showing undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood, which was aired by the BBC's Panorama programme. Photograph: BBC Panorama/PAPeter Preston2014-11-16T00:02:05ZPanorama’s Mazher Mahmood exposé: a new start or a false dawn?http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/nov/15/panoramas-mazher-mahmood-expose-a-new-start-or-a-false-dawn
<p>Amid rumours of redundancies, editorial conflicts and rock-bottom morale, this week was seen as the BBC current affairs flagship’s chance to rise again. So where does it go from here?</p><p>Panorama, the BBC’s current affairs flagship for more than 60 years, has made its mark yet again. Its half-hour documentary on Wednesday, about the Sun on Sunday’s reporter Mazher Mahmood, was an example of the programme at its best.</p><p>Aside from revealing up-to-date images of the journalist known as the fake sheikh, it broke new ground with footage of Mahmood’s sting operations, and also contained criticism of his methods by three of his former “assistants”. It could well prove to be the defining moment in Mahmood’s controversial career, which I have been following closely for the best part of 25 years.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/nov/15/panoramas-mazher-mahmood-expose-a-new-start-or-a-false-dawn">Continue reading...</a>Mazher MahmoodBBCInvestigative journalismTony HallJames HardingTelevisionSun on SundaySat, 15 Nov 2014 09:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/nov/15/panoramas-mazher-mahmood-expose-a-new-start-or-a-false-dawnPhotograph: PASting … Mazher Mahmood and one of his ‘targets’, former Page 3 model Emma Morgan, were highlighted in the Panorama programme. Photomontage by GNM ImagingPhotograph: PASting … Mazher Mahmood and one of his ‘targets’, former Page 3 model Emma Morgan, were highlighted in the Panorama programme. Photomontage by GNM ImagingPhotograph: Suzanne Plunkett/ReutersJames Harding, now the BBC’s head of news, arriving to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry.Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/ReutersJames Harding, now the BBC’s head of news, arriving to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry.Photograph: PAPanorama’s investigation into Mahmood was finally broadcast after repeated legal challenges. Photograph: PAPhotograph: PAPanorama’s investigation into Mahmood was finally broadcast after repeated legal challenges. Photograph: PARoy Greenslade2014-11-15T09:00:01Z